COOPERATIVE ADVISORY SERVICES Advice - Training - Exchange

FOR COOPERATIVES

For prioritised services to be provided by or through the cooperatives, Training of Trainers modules are available in a broad range of services-related topics such as record keeping and benchmarking.

Agriterra professionalises farmers’ cooperatives and organisations through advice, training and exchange. Already for more than 20 years, we believe in the 3-level approach of Farmer Business, Farmer Services and Farmer Lobby: the first step is to strenghten the cooperative itself. Secondly, we improve services for its members and link the cooperative to markets and financial institutions. In the third phase, we connect them to governments and policy makers. All fields of the 3-level approach are important to take cooperatives to the next level. Our training modules Governance, Financial Management, Business Development and Lobby have been developed to implement this model. Cooperative Advisory Services (level 1 & 2) are part of the training module Business Development, as are Record Keeping, Marketing Basics training and the Value Creator tool.

Why invest in Cooperative Advisory Services?Your member farmers need good, affordable agricultural advisory and other services. These include: good agricultural practices, farm management, financial management advice and services related to access to input, markets and/or finance. Agriterra guides you in assessing your current advisory services system and explores how to improve this in terms of financial sustainability, farmer ownership and future-proofness. This investment pays off and saves a lot of costs for ad hoc agronomic external advice. Agriterra’s 8-step result management guidance tool (see back) keeps you in control. You extend the quality of service provision to your members. Delivering good advisory services to them improves farmer business and is an important strategy for a marketing or processing cooperative to ensure sufficient, quality supply. This leads to a stronger position of your cooperative in the value chain, in better sourcing contracts and satisfied, commited members who are able and willing to pay for services.

INCREASE YOUR COOPERATIVE BUSINESS

AGRITERRA TRAININGS

Focus on services strategy and reinforcing your own strengthTogether with Agriterra you sharpen the strategy and approach to improve the service provision to your members and through this, your member’s income. After conducting the Cooperative Advisory Services ‘check’, Agriterra offers a workshop on sustainable services. Our aim is to make services farmer-led, financial sustainable and future-proof. During this workshop we identify together what services are mostly needed and what the cooperative needs to do to provide these services. By doing so, we concentrate on the internal organisation and on optimising the service offering.

All the services are matched and your organisation will be able to deliver optimal added value to service provision to members.

Agriterra’s 3-level approach

1. FARMER BUSINESS

2. SERVICES

3. LOBBY

Implementation of model in training modules:

• Governance• Financial

Management• Business

Development• Lobby

FOR SERVICES ORIENTED COOPERATIVES THAT WANT TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP

Agriterra focuses on farmer cooperatives and organisations that want to make a difference for their members. With Agriterra you get access to hands-on expertise on the key issues of advisory service provision. We improve especially the advisory services related to production, as this is key to a steady supply of the primary product processed by a cooperative, the raw material.

Effective and efficient advisory services improve the skills, knowledge and, very important, the attitude of the members of the cooperative. These services improve farm management practices by innovations such as better agronomic practices (agricultural extension), entrepreneurship development (farm management, record keeping, farm planning) and information sharing related to access to finance, access to inputs and access to markets. Investing in advisory services stimulates cooperative business (either bulking, processing/value addition and/or marketing). The ultimate goal is to have professional, well informed, commited members who deliver secure and good supply to the cooperative. This results in improved income of the members, as well as of the cooperative!

IMPROVE SERVICES FOR YOUR MEMBERS

Trinh Buu Duy

• Good agricucltural practices • Support in farm management & planning• Advice on how to get access to input,

markets and/or finance

• steady supplies• better sourcing con-

tracts and value chain position

• members willing and able to pay for services

• improvement of cooperative service package

• quality produce• more productivity• higher member

income• increase cooperative

turnover and income• satisfied, commited

members

return on investment

FARMERS

COOPERATIVE

OR UNION BUSINESS

SUPPLY TO COOP SERVICES

investment

impactresult

service package

WWW.AGRITERRA.ORG

STEPS TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL COOPERATIVE WITH COMMITTED MEMBERS

Agriterra Willemsplein 42 6811 KD ARNHEM The Netherlands

Agriterra is an agri-agency founded by the Dutch agricultural sector that professionalises farmer organisations and cooperatives worldwide in order to better serve the needs and interests of their member farmers.

WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE?

• FOCUSED Unique experience and knowledge of cooperatives

• QUALITY Dutch peer-to-peer advice, training and exchange

• LOCAL Strong local presence & farmer-led

• CONNECTED Extensive network in cooperatives and agribusiness

The Agriterra effect

member involvement

member income

cooperative business

Agriterra’s 8-step- result

management

STEP 1COOPERATIVE ASSESSMENT

STEP 2COOPERATIVE ADVISORY SERVICES

CHECK

STEP 3SUSTAINABLE ADVISORY SERVICES WORKSHOP

STEP 4DEFINE SERVICES ACTIVITY PLAN

STEP 5IMPLEMENT IMPROVED ADVISORY SERVICES

STEP 7MONITORING IMPROVEMENTS

AND RESULTS

STEP 6FOLLOW UP (FIELD AND AT

MANAGEMENT LEVEL)

STEP 8EVALUATION AND ADJUSTMENTS